shops

Headington Headlines #308

TonyOX3

Your weekly round-up of local news for 6 – 12 March.

The Headington Neighbourhood Plan got its final go-ahead on Thursday. There will be a referendum on 4 May, the same day as the County Council elections. Expect a big publicity drive, and if you live in Headington please take the time to look at the Plan and VOTE! More as always on the Headington Plan website.

As expected, the East Area Planning Committee approved the planning applications on the Jack Russell & Ampleforth Arms pubs. To remind you, the application for the Jack Russell is for

“Demolition of public house, erection of 16 flats (6 x 3-bed, 8 x 2-bed, 2 x 1-bed) on three floors. Provision of 19 car parking spaces.”

and for the Ampleforth

“Part demolition of the existing public house. Part redevelopment and conversion to create a new community run public house at basement and ground floor level and 1 x 1-bed, 3 x 2-bed and 2 x 3 bed residential apartments over ground, first and second floors. Erection of 1 x 3-bed dwellinghouse.(Use Class C3). Provision of private amenity space, landscaping, car parking and associated infrastructure.”

The Aldi store on Horspath Driftway (alongside Homebase, ex- Curry’s) opened at 8am on Thursday.

As one door opens, another closes. The W H Smith local store in Headington is for sale for £615k freehold, and is reported to be closing on 23 March (Thursday next week). Thanks to @headingtonnews and @DarrenGrant_UK for spotting this.

Last October the British Legion planted 456 daffodils at ‘the Final Turn’, the corner at the entrance to the JR on Headley Way; one daffodil for every member of the UK Armed Forces killed in the Afghanistan campaign. The daffodils are now flowering. See HH289 for the original story.

456 daffodils at the Final Turn
456 daffodils at the Final Turn

A pupil at @HeadingtonSch has been selected to play hockey for England U16s.

In an article in the Guardian @Bill_Heine‘s son explains why he bought the Shark House.

The Oxford Diocese has put in a planning application (ref: 17/00393/FUL) to demolish Old Marston Vicarage in Elsfield Road and replace it with a 4-bedroom house. The existing building is said to be structurally unsound. Consultation closes on 28 March.

The dispute between the City and flat-owners in the Northway and Wood Farm tower blocks over the cost of refurbishment and renovations (see HH 244 and HH282) moved forward after a tribunal ruled that the owners would not have to pay for some parts of the work. There’s still another ruling to be made later this year, and it seems the City’s right to charge for other parts of the work has been upheld.

My favourite Headington-related tweet of the week:

Active posts on the Headington & Marston e-democracy forum this week:

  • Marston Medical Centre
  • Reply marston medical centre
  • Proposed abolition of Oxford City Council
  • Silent Auction at Townsend House
  • Hospital Parking
  • London Road – cycle path
  • Headington Plan – what’s next?

Headington Headlines #306

TonyOX3

Your weekly round-up of local news for 20 – 26 February.

There was a further heatpipe meeting with Vital Energi on Thursday. They are making good progress with just a few delays. My note about this and how they will manage the London Road work is here.

All my posts about the project are under the ‘Energy Project’ tab in the main menu, and there’s a page of links and contact details here.

After Jacobs Chop House became Jacobs Brasserie, another restaurant has changed its name. What was Bar Meze is now Desi Lounge Thali & Grill House. According to Wikipedia, thali is an Indian style of serving a selection of sweet, salt, bitter, sour, astringent & spicy foods on one plate. The Oxford Times carried an article about it including some words from the owner.

Vandals did some damage with cans of paint and smashed a defibrillator at Marston Saints Football Club in Boults Lane, Old Marston last week. It happpened overnight on 13/14 February.

At its meeting on Tuesday the West Area Planning Committee approved the installation of a memorial to Oxford men who died in the Spanish Civil War. The memorial will be erected at the bottom of South Park by the International Brigades Memorial Trust (IBMT) @IBMT_SCW who are raising funds to pay for it.

Artist's impression of IBMT memorial

As expected, the County Cabinet voted to sell the Harlow Centre site in Marston to the Government and contribute £2m towards the construction of a new free school – the Swan School – on condition that the Education Secretary seals a funding agreement with the River Learning Trust.

The roadworks at the junction of Old Road and Gipsy Lane are virtually complete, but there are a few snags which I think could have been avoided with better supervision of the work.

The new Aldi is going to open on 9 March. It’s where Curry’s used to be on the small trading estate on Horspath Driftway where Homebase is.

I don’t know when it started, but Aviva are running a ‘new’ bus route through Headington, the X8. It follows a similar route to the 280 joining Thame to Oxford Railway Station, but unlike the 280 it misses out Wheatley. Two early buses run Aylesbury – Thame – Oxford, missing Haddenham as well as Wheatley, with two making the return trip to Aylesbury at the end of the day. The Aylesbury – Oxford journey is 7 minutes shorter than the 280; the Thame – Oxford trip 6 minutes shorter.

Bus stop showing X8 bus route
X8 bus route through Headington. And X13?

This twitter conversation harks back with regret to the good old days of the Manor Football Ground and the pubs fans used to visit.

Police helicopter action over central Headington on Saturday prompted some chat on twitter, culminating in an appeal from the police for information about a missing man. He was found safe on Sunday.

Active posts on the Headington & Marston e-democracy forum this week:

  • Hospital Parking
  • London Road cycle path
  • Disruption

Headington Headlines #291

TonyOX3

Your weekly round-up of local news for 7 – 13 November.

There are some changes to the shops in Headington. The Rose Tree restaurant has closed “until further notice”, a Helen & Douglas House charity shop is opening where Oxford Furniture used to be and shopfitters are working in the old Morrison’s shop near Starbucks.

Headington Library is closed until further notice while the boiler and heating system is repaired.

After a long time out of the news (the last time was March 2015) there was some activity at 29 Old High Street this week. For new readers, number 29 is the near-derelict property between Waitrose and the car park. The Council has access to carry out a structural survey. I’m guessing, but perhaps there’s a chance it might be declared unsafe, in which case the Council could force action to be taken.

Headington Baptist Church celebrated its tenth anniversary the Sunday before last (6 November) with celebrations including the unveiling of a new artwork.

After last week’s news of the Fairview pub, another old-established but closed pub has reached the end of the line. Marston’s Jack Russell pub in Salford Road was “half-destroyed in an arson attack” on Saturday night. Locals have been campaigning for it to become a community centre.

The Friends of Stansfeld @FofStansfled are having an open meeting in @TheMasonsArmsHQ Arms tomorrow (Tues 15 November) to discuss the development proposals for the site. Everyone welcome.

Thames Valley Police @ThamesVP issued a statement on Friday in connection with the alleged abduction and rape of a 14 year old schoolgirl. They say that there is no evidence of an abduction but they are still investigating a case of rape.

A woman, her son and a pet dog were rescued unharmed after a fire broke out in the living room of their home in Weyland Road on Saturday night.

Active posts on the Headington & Marston e-democracy forum this week:

  • Friends of Quarry Meeeting
  • Oxford Winter Cycle Safety
  • road repairs in headington – hats off to the Labour Party
  • Glossy yellow leaflets and spuriously claiming credit